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Louis
Louis is one of the four playable Survivors in Left 4 Dead. His original concept was an assistant manager at a local retail electronics chain store, but in the game he is a Junior Systems Analyst at “Franklin Brothers” in the IT department located in Philadelphia PA, until the second day after the first infection. In official media, he is usually seen wielding a Submachine Gun or dual Pistols. Louis, along with Zoey and Francis, appears in Left 4 Dead 2 in the campaign The Passing as they meet with the Left 4 Dead 2 Survivors. In The Sacrifice comic, Louis damaged his legs after a Witch attempted to drag him into a yacht full of other Witches and is unable to stand on his own. Due to this he mans a Heavy Machine Gun during the campaign's finale. Louis' facial features are portrayed by Sean Bennett and he is voiced by Earl Alexander. Official description Background Before the Infection Louis was working as the Junior Systems Analyst at Franklin Brothers in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. During his lunch breaks, he would often visit the shooting range which his co-workers would mock him for doing so. It can also be assumed he also played PC games as he has a figurine of the Heavy from Team Fortress 2 on his desk and mentions Counter-Strike when picking up a gun. Two days after the Infection began, he encountered his first Infected in the men's restroom after trying to convince a co-worker that the press was over reacting and everything was still safe. After killing the Infected, he exited the restroom only to find his office in shambles, his co-workers all dead, and the outside world falling to pieces. Louis is most well educated of all the Survivors, holding at least one undergraduate degree and an MBA and at some point learning Japanese during an internship in Tokyo, Japan. Relationships with other Survivors Louis is the most upbeat Survivor and attempts to keep the group's spirits up, no matter the situation. *'Bill': Louis and Bill do not appear to have much of a relationship. Louis does seem to like Bill, however, as he will cheerfully tell Bill that stairs are good for his cardio when Bill complains about them. He also wants to go save Bill when he's incapacitated outside the safe room"Bill! C'mon guys, let's go help 'im.". In The Sacrifice comic, Louis and Bill get along well, having taught the older man how to make Pipe bombs, as well as showing good initiative in combat. Despite Louis' injuries later on, Bill does not leave him behind, as he considers Louis to be "one of his own". Louis is somewhat saddened by Bill's death in The Passing, going so far as to kill a Tank in his name"That...is for Bill!". *'Francis': Francis appears to be annoyed by Louis's cheerful disposition"Hey Mr. Positive! We just crashed! You got somethin' positive to say about that?". Louis is perhaps more hostile to Francis than he is to any other Survivor (which isn't saying much), but is still willing to save Francis when he is incapacitated outside a safe room"C'mon, aren't we gonna help him?". In The Sacrifice comic Francis seems to insult Louis even more at times, especially in dangerous situations. The Sacrifice comic episodes 3 and 4 also reveal that this antipathy is due to Francis having a deep-seated low regard for Louis (e.g. whilst sleeping, Francis' sub-conscious mind casts Louis away on a deserted island). *'Zoey': Zoey teases Louis throughout the campaigns"Hey Louis, all of these cubicles make you homesick?""Louis... You'd look good in one of those hospital gowns.""Hey Louis? Try not to get lost.""Louis, your row isn't boarding yet.". Louis' optimism seems to be appreciated by her"You're an optimist, I'll give you that, Louis.", and they both become saddened and a little more emotional when the other dies"Goddammit, Zoey, wake up!""Louis, oh God, I'm gonna miss you!". In The Passing she shows deep concern for his injury, mentioning to the Left 4 Dead 2 Survivors they have a wounded man up there and if Zoey sacrifices herself in the sacrifice she'll say that he always has a friend. *'Coach': Coach and Louis seem to understand each other's situation quite well; both men are optimistic and want to want to keep in good spirits. Louis wishes Coach luck, and Coach offers generously to take Louis (and the other Survivors) with them to New Orleans. *'Ellis': Louis and Ellis share an optimistic outlook, and they are quick to wish each other the best. Louis seems to find Ellis' comments amusing and claims the young man will "definitely make it to New Orleans." *'Nick': Nick is the only Survivor Louis seems to dislike due to Nick's dismissive attitude toward him. He does not wish him luck at the end of The Passing and agrees with Francis when he claims "Bill would've shot him by now." Nevertheless, Louis will cover everyone, including Nick, during the battle. Sometimes upon finishing the finale, players will hear Louis wish everyone else good luck by their names and refer to Nick as "what's-his-name". *'Rochelle:' Louis and Rochelle have an instantaneously warm relationship. When she sees him wounded, she takes his health into consideration, and she invites the trio to join them on their trip to New Orleans. Quotes and Captions See: Louis/Quotes and Captions Notes * Louis was originally set to be the manager of an electronics store. This, along with his outfit, may also be a reference to Shaun of the Dead, as Shaun manages an electronics store and wears a similar uniform. * Despite being the most well-educated Survivor (he has at least two university degrees: an MBA and thus a prerequisite undergraduate degree), Louis communicates no evidence of any normally-expected intellectual curiosity about the causes and direction of the zombie apocalypse. Furthermore his dialog is invariably banal (which is odd for an MBA) and he seems unwilling or unable to take the lead in getting the team organised and working out clear plans of action: two skills that are drummed into every MBA graduate. However, considering the trauma of the zombie apocalypse and years at a boring job, his personality becomes more plausible, but still quite strange. * In the beta version, Louis was pretty unfriendly with Bill but, like Zoey and Francis' romantic relationship, this was removed in the game's final version. If this is a legacy attribute, it may explain why talk between Louis and Bill is relatively uncommon. * Louis was to be a "narrator" in the cut campaign intros. * The cut lines tell us that Louis was holding out with other people before meeting the other Survivors. Judging by his line "Folks I was with before you three wouldn't keep movin figured they could wait it out. They couldn't,", they are likely dead or Infected. * Louis seems to have a sound knowledge of the sewer system in No Mercy and is able to determine when the team are under the hospital. (However this insight may only be due to picking out the bright orange letters saying "MERCY HOSPITAL" right next to a ladder leading to the surface near the hospital entrance.) * Next to Ellis, Nick, and Rochelle, Louis is the only character in the original Survivors who mentions anyone besides himself and his co-Survivors when he refers to "the guys at the office" who once thought it funny when he went to a rifle range during his lunch breaks.Generic20.wav or Riflerange_02.wav * Louis mentions the highly successful Valve franchise Counter-Strike: when picking up a Submachine Gun he exclaims, "Oh, MAN! This is just like Counter-Strike!"TakeSubMachineGun03.wav * Somewhat unusually for his professional background and occupation, Louis appears to be very knowledgeable and enthusiastic about firearms and electronic gaming. He frequented a rifle range during his lunch breaks, is a keen Counter-Strike player and gleefully exclaims "Now this is a big-ass machine gun!" when encountering a Minigun.. * His quote involving "I ain't got time to bleed,"ZombieGenericLong14.wav is a reference to the same quotation of Blain Cooper (played by Jesse Venture) from the movie Predator, and also refers to Duke Nukem 64/3D. This quote is also a Team Fortress 2 Achievement for the Soldier. * In the very first trailer of Left 4 Dead, Louis is killed by falling from a roof. * In the game files, Louis is called "manager". Opening these files reveal that he has only 11 facial facial expressions; the lowest of any original Survivor has 26, Francis 20, and Zoey 20. He also has the lowest number of facial expressions unique to his character: full smile, angry, concerned and pain 2. He shares two facial expressions with Francis and Zoey: shocked and disgusted. Only one is shared with Zoey: smile half. Expressions shared with Francis only are: maniacal smile and pain 1 whilst only optimistic dialogue is shared with Bill and Francis. Louis shares no expression exclusively with Bill. * In some of the posters, Louis holds his primary weapon in his left hand, hinting a possibility of him being ambidextrous. Exceptions would be Crash Course (he dual-wields), Blood Harvest and The Last Stand. ** In the intro video, he holds his Pistol with his left hand and managed to kill a Hunter with it. * In The Passing sound files Louis says "Man, I feel like I'm Gordon Freeman."dlc1_communityl4d110.wav This is for community maps (due to how the file is named) related to the Half Life series, where the main character's name is Gordon Freeman. Although with the release of The Sacrifice Louis may say it when picking up a Crowbar. * Valve has stated that Bill sacrificed himself to save a wounded Survivor, possibly Louis. This could explain why Louis mentions killing Tanks for Bill, as he may feel responsible for his death. * In The Passing, Louis holds the Heavy Machine Gun with one arm floating and the hands clutching air. This is most likely an animation error which may be patched eventually. * Louis is the only bot to ever use the Heavy Machine Gun. * Louis' leg injuries may be less severe than the other Survivors say they are as he can be seen walking and climbing a flight of stairs unaided with only a slight limp in order to get to the Heavy Machine Gun during the The Passing finale. Alternatively it is possible the Survivors were referring to an injury other than those to his leg. * In the digital comic, Louis was bitten by an Infected individual on the arm hard enough to draw blood prior to meeting the other Survivors and compares his bite marks to those carried on the arm of a dead Infected. However he remains uninfected and makes no further mention of this injury. Initially this strongly suggested that although the virus may be spread by saliva, exhalation droplets or body fluids, Louis was either immune or a carrier. Subsequently it is revealed in The Sacrifice comic that Louis is indeed a Carrier who is capable of infecting people who do not possess a natural resistance to the the infection. * In the digital comic, when a Wandering Witch passed by the two soldiers outside the cell occupied by Louis and Francis, Louis knew that she would "walk right past you". In the game, however, Louis and the other three survivors never encounter a Wandering Witch. * Part 4 of the Sacrifice comic reveals that the leg injury Louis displays in The Passing was received when he was pulled into a boat full of Witches. * In The Sacrifice, he became the team's shotgunner, Francis switched from shotgunner to sniper, and Zoey took Louis' role of the heavy artillery operator. * Louis has some knowledge in the Japanese language since he is able to read someone's Japanese message in a safe room during The Sacrifice. It is revealed that Louis once held an internship in Tokyo, Japan, which logically explains how he can read Japanese. The Japanese connection may also be a subtle acknowledgement of Louis' voice actor, Earl Alexander, who some have reported as saying that he intends learning Japanese in preparation to moving to Japan someday.needed * Louis enjoys playing video games. This is showed by him comparing the situation to Counter Strike, having a Heavy Weapons Guy figurine from Team Fortress 2 on his office desk, and the fact he complains that there will be no Xbox on their island in the Florida Keys. Gallery File:Louisz.jpg|Head shot of Louis. File:Picture2.jpg|Concept art of beta Louis. File:Louis-survivors-alley-1920-2.jpg|Louis' appearance during initial game development. File:sean_bennett.jpg|Louis' face model, Sean Bennett. File:Earl_alexander.jpg|Earl Alexander, Louis' voice actor. left_4_dead_patch.jpg|Louis firing at the witch, in the Intro Scene. L4dpg34.jpg|Louis (and a dead Infected) as he appears in-comic References Category:The Survivors Category:Left 4 Dead